Travel to Cumberland County Generates $39.66 Million in Tax Revenues
Cumberland County - May 6 through May 12 is National Travel & Tourism Week, the week the US Travel Association designates to champion the value of travel to the national, state and local economies. National Travel & Tourism Week was established by a congressional resolution in 1983.
“There’s no better time to talk about the value of tourism to Cumberland County,” says John Meroski, President and CEO of the Fayetteville Area Convention & Visitors Bureau (FACVB) . “Tourism generates a significant impact on Cumberland County’s economy.”
In 2016, domestic travel to Cumberland County generated over $526 million in expenditures. Additionally, travel generated $39.66 million in state and local tax revenues, which represents a $120.98 tax savings to each county resident. These figures rank Cumberland County 10th out of North Carolina’s 100 counties in economic impact from travel and tourism.
Cumberland County's tourism industry employs more than 4,550 people with a payroll of $98.55 million. *
The FACVB works to maximize the economic impact from travel to Cumberland County. The FACVB is funded through occupancy tax collections, collected from overnight visitors at Cumberland County hotels and administered by the Tourism Development Authority.
“Although Cumberland County residents do not fund tourism promotion efforts, they receive the benefits through tax savings and expenditures in the community,” says Meroski. "Our organization works hard to maximize the number of visitors in the community, expenditures and, in turn, taxes collected."
*Figures are from the study “The Economic Impact of Travel on North Carolina Counties” prepared for VisitNC by the US Travel Association. Follow the above link for more information.